Piece of furniture



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PIECE OF FURNITURE Filed May 15, 196'? 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 TT Neva J. P. LARSEN PIECE OF FURNITURE Sept. 30, 1969 Filed Bay 15, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet I5 2 NEY5 ATTO United States Patent 3,469,882 PIECE OF FURNITURE Johannes Peter Larsen, Vanlose Alle 61, Vanlose, Denmark Filed May 15, 1967, Ser. No. 638,496 Claims priority, application Denmark, May 14, 1966, 2,483/66; Sept. 8, 1966, 4,618/66 Int. Cl. A47c 13/00 US. Cl. 297-418 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A piece of furniture having a geometric appearance when in folded position and in unfolded position presents a furniture unit which can be utilized as a chair or lying surface which changes its profile according to variations in weight distribution whereby the chair or lying surface adapts itself to the profile of the human body sitting or lying thereon.

The object of the invention is to devise a piece of furniture that is particularly comfortable and which may be varied in different manners while at the same time needing a relatively small space during storage.

The characterizing features of the piece of furniture according to the invention are that it consists of two cushions that are pivotally interconnected along an edge and being adapted in such a manner that they may be placed in such a way in relation to each other that one of said cushions constitutes a seat abutting the floor while to other cushion constitutes a back-rest. Thus, a particularly comfortable piece of furniture is obtained, said piece of furniture only occupying a small space when the two cushions are arranged on top of each other, this arrangement of the cushions making it possible to use the piece of furniture as a sitting cushion or squab.

The pivotable connection between the two cushions may, according to the invention, be releasable, so that the two cushions may be separated from each other. Hereby it is obtained that said two cushions may be used separately or together in another manner.

According to the invention the back-rest cushion may be diivded into two cushions that are hinge connected with each other at the top of the back-rest cushion so that they may be swung out to form a lying surface. Hereby there may be obtained a relatively long lying surface formed by the two back-rest cushions and the seat cushion arranged in extension of each other.

The seat cushion may, according to the invention have its greatest thickness at the middle, its thickness decreasing in the direction towards both its front and rear edge. Hereby the sitting person may achieve a comfortable alteration of the shape of the piece of furniture by shifting his or her position on the seat cushion, thereby obtaining a comfortable position in said piece of furniture. The seat cushion may thus, according to the invention, have a substantially plane upper surface while having a curved lower surface. The seat cushion may thus in a particularly advantageous manner be adjusted according to the wishes of the person using it.

The back-rest cushion may, according to the invention, have a substantially plane front side had a curved rear side with the greatest thickness at the middle, its thickness decreasing in the direction towards the upper edge and the lower edge. Hereby there may also be obtained a particularly comfortable adjustment of the piece of furniture according to the wishes of the person using it.

In the accompanying drawings there is shown several embodiments of a cushion chair according to the invention, and in which FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 are lateral views of a first embodi- 'ice ment consisting of three cushions with said three cushions in different positions,

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are lateral views of a second embodiment consisting of four cushione with said four cushions in different positions,

FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 are lateral views of a third embodiment consisting of 4 cushions with said four cushions in different positions,

FIGS. 10 and 11 are lateral views of a fourth embodiment consisting of two cushions with said two cushions in different positions, and

FIGS. 12 and 13 are sectional views of a hinge means for mutually interconnecting two cushions.

FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 show a piece of furniture formed from three cushions 50, 51 and 52 of which 51 and 52 are hinged together by means of a releasable hinge means 53 while 50 and 52 are hinged together by means of a releasable hinge means 54. In FIG. 1 the cushions are shown folded together to form a cylinder. In FIG. 2 they are folded out to form a flat lying cushion, and in FIG. 3 they are partly folded out to form a flat chair.

In FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 there is shown a piece of furniture consisting of four cushions 55, 56, 57 and 58 that are mutually interconnected two and two by means of hinge connections 59, 60 and 61. In FIG. 4 the cushions are shown folded together for forming a cylindrical cushion or squab. The end of the cushion 55 may in this position be connected with the corresponding end of the cushion 57 by means of releasable connecting means. By swinging the cushion 55 along out there may be formed a piece of sitting furniture with a shape similar to the shape of the piece of furniture of FIG. 3. By swinging the cushions 55 and 56 out there may be formed a piece of sitting or lying furniture as shown in FIG. 5. The piece of furniture may be turned over so that the cushions are positioned as shown in FIG. 6. The piece of furniture shown in FIG. 2 may also be turned over in this manner.

The pieces of furniture or cushion. chairs shown in FIGS. 1-6 have the advantage that the person sitting or lying on them may, by means of shifting his or her body, obtain that each cushion changes its angular position relative to the floor on account of its curved front side so that it is easy to attain a particularly comfortable position or to change the position when said person feels like it.

The cushion chair shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 corre sponds approximately to the cushion chair shown in FIGS. 4-6 and consists of four cushions 62, 63, 64 and 65 that are pivotably interconnected two and two by means of hinge means 66, 67 and 68. In this embodiment, however, the cushion 64 is made with a flat bottom side so that the cushion chair in the position shown in FIG. 7 has a plane supporting surface or base.

The cushion chair shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 consists of two cushions 69 and 70 that are interconnected by means of a pivotable hinge means 71. In the position shown in FIG. 10 the two cushions are folded together and form a squab or sitting cushion while in the position shown in FIG. 11 they are swung away from each other and form a low chair which, like the chair shown in FIG. 3, has the advantage that the sitting person may alter the shape of the seat cushion 69 by moving his or her body to and fro on it. In this connection it is essential that the pivotable hinge connection be arranged at a certain height and that the seat cushion 69 consist of suitable elastic material.

The hinge connection shown in FIG. 12 is obtained by using one continuous piece of material 72 for the sides of the cushions abutting each other and the same piece of material 73 for the back side of the cushions 76 and 77. Hereby there is formed a hinge-like hand between the places 74 and 75 where the pieces of material 72 and 73 are sewn together.

In the hinge connection shown in FIG. 13 the back sides of the cushions 84 and 85 are covered by one continuous piece of material 83, while the abutting sides of the cushions are covered by separate pieces of material 79 and 80 respectively. The piece of material 80 is folded to form a flap 82 that is sewn together with the piece 83 and the piece of material 79 is folded to form a flap 81 that is sewn together with the piece 83. Between the flaps 81 and 82 there is formed a hinge-like band of material 78. This band may be reinforced by arranging a piece of re-inforcing material 184 along side the piece 83 as indicated by the dotted lines.

The shown and described embodiments are only to be considered by way of example as several variations and further developments are conceivable within the scope of the invention. Thus the cushions may be kept locked in their positions for forming a squab by means of bands or removable textile casings. Furthermore, the type of textile employed can vary according to the uses expected of the cushion chair. It may also be combined with a frame portion, for instance a low platform on which the chair cushion may be arranged in all its different positions.

What I claim is:

1. A piece of furniture comprising at least two cushions pivotally interconnected along an edge for movement between a folded position where said cushions are lo cated one upon the other to an unfolded position where one of said cushions constitutes a seat while the other cushion constitutes a back-rest, said seat cushion having a substantially flat seat surface and a curvilinear floorengaging surface whereby the angular relationshhip of said seat cushion and said back-rest cushion can be varied for selected seating positions.

2. A piece of furniture according to claim 1, wherein said back-rest cushion is constituted of two portions that are hinge-connected with each other at marginal edges thereof, each of said portions having planar surfaces that are adapted to abut each other in the folded position of said portions, and in the unfolded position of said portions the latter may be swung out thereby forming a reclining surface.

3. A piece of furniture according to claim 1, wherein said seat cushion and said back-rest cushion when in said folded position constitute a squab or sitting cushion.

4. A piece of furniture as defined in claim 1, wherein said back-rest cushion has a curvilinear surface and a substantially flat surface, said curvilinear surface abutting the floor, said flat surface constituting the back-rest surface, whereby the angular relationship of said seat cushion fiat surface and said back-rest flat surface can be varied for selected seating positions.

5. A piece of furniture as defined in claim 4, wherein said curvilinear surfaces of said seat cushion and said back-rest cushions established, when said cushions are in folded position, a complete cylinder.

6. A piece of furniture, being comprised of cushions, said cushions having their edges pivotally interconnected for movement of said cushions between a folded position and an unfolded position, said cushions when in said unfolded position forming a body-resposing surface, at least one of said cushions having a curvilinear surface for contacting the fioor whereby the angular relationship between the cushions having said curvilinear surfaces and cushions thereto connected can be varied to adapt the profile of the piece of furniture to the body profile.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,108,241 2/1938 Wallace 297 1 2,593,319 4/1952 Levitin et al. 297 462 2,612,645 10/1952 Bolano 5- 344 X 2,655,203 10/1953 Wegner 297 105 2,692,639 10/1954 Genovese 297 405 2,693,864 11/1954 Luttio 297 105 2,896,695 7/1959 Ashnorth 297-118 X 2,966,205 12/1960 Blaschko 297-462 3,092,224 6/1963 ONeil 297--ll8 X FOREIGN PATENTS 546,541 4/1956 Belgium.

JAMES T. MCCALL, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 5344; 297-1 

